Three of the houses on this block were decorated with lots of lights for Christmas. At one of them the lights have been turned off since the first of the year, but the other two are still lit. The house at the dead end of the block had the most lights, and it's one of the ones still lit. It's over, people! Turn off the lights!

Rain has been falling all day, and will probably fall all night and continue tomorrow. It now looks as though there could be some rain Friday as well, and rain is almost certain on Saturday, but Sunday might be clear. The break won't last long, though, and we'll most likely get soaked again next week. I'm guessing that the weeds will be big and luxuriant next spring, and the lawns will probably need frequent mowing. I'm hoping that the leach field of my septic system survives all this saturation.

So far I'm still enjoying the sound of rain, but I'm not sure how long that will last. At some point it's bound to start driving me crazy if I don't get frequent breaks from it. It isn't going to get cold enough to snow anytime soon, but it would be nice if it did. The silence that comes with snow is one of the delights of winter, and it's been a long time since we've heard it here.

The bar across the street took the lights off its tall Christmas tree, which they had up in their beer garden closed in winter, and then sawed it down today. I feel sad. Yes, it's all over now and it was time, but I did enjoy those lights!

I had my carpets steam-cleaned today, and it's foggy inside. Not the best time of year to have it done, but my granddaughter peed into my bedroom rug last week, so it was kinda necessary.